Tuesday, January 11, 2011

Memetics and the transfer of Roman culture to be explored in Newcastle conference

This year as part of the 21st Theoretical Roman Archaeology Conference at Newcastle University scheduled from Thursday 14 April to Sunday 17 April 2011, classical scholars from around the world will explore a variety of topics from gender identity, castration in the Roman world and colonial consumption to the practicalities of supplying Roman fish sauce and examining functionalism, militarism and discrepant experience on Hadrian's Wall.

Similar to cultural analysis, memetics seeks to apply the techniques of epidemiology to the spread of beliefs and ideas through populations. They also analyze the relative prevalence of various memes and document their independent origins or common ancestry. Memeticists also seek to further explain, clarify, and quantify the theory of memes; they hope to use their theory to make predictions about how humans behave that go beyond what would be expected by evolutionary psychology or sociobiology, which assume genetic benefit to human behavior.- Cultural Evolution

So, what is a meme?

A meme is defined as "a unit of cultural transmission" (The Selfish Gene, p. 192). In other words, a meme is a cultural idea held by an adherent or host. Examples of memes include "tunes, ideas, catch-phrases, clothes fashions, ways of making pots or of building arches" (Ibid). Like genes, memes cause "phenotypes" - in this context it is useful to remember that the meme itself - its genotype - is the pure information it contains, like a musical score or a recipe. A meme's phenotype, on the other hand, is its physical expression - the actual music, the cake baked from the recipe, etc...

...Roman culture contains a number of different meme sets: religion, politics, entertainment, attitudes toward war, etc. The "Roman religion" meme set included the memes that humans' fates were determined by a set of gods and goddesses, that natural disasters were signs of the gods' disfavor, and that the gods could be appeased by animal sacrifice. During the time of the Roman Republic, the "Roman politics" meme set included the memes that representatives of the people should govern, that tyranny was unfavorable to Rome, and that only men of economic status should have a say in government. - Cultural Evolution

But memes, like genes, work in combination with context.

One example sometimes given to illustrate the effect of context on the transmission of an idea is the observation that the meme to fear flying did not exist in ancient times because flying vehicles did not exist. I would take exception to this particular example though.

Greek mythology, a widely accepted meme set, included the story of Icarus who died when he cast wings of wax then flew too close to the sun. So recognition of the consequences of a failed attempt to fly was obviously present. But the probability that an ancient Greek or Roman may face a choice to fly or not to fly from a practical perspective did not yet exist. So I would say this meme existed but could be viewed as dormant because of a lack of technological context.

As the Roman Empire expanded, its societal context was constantly bombarded by new ideas and practices from the different cultural groups it absorbed through its conquests. So I think evaluating how and why Roman society as a whole adopted some customs or ideas while rejecting others would be challenging research.

"Roman archaeologists have largely remained untouched by memetics, yet cultural selection provides an elegant mechanism for the emergence, persistence and evolution of traditions in the Roman world." - Edward Biddulph

About The Editor

I am passionate about technology, education and history, particularly ancient history. I am constantly exploring ways to use technology to enhance the learning environment and am particularly ecstatic when I can develop a technology to advance the study of ancient history.Follow me on Twitter! Comments or Questions: mharrsch@uoregon.edu

Attention Lifelong Learners!

Latest Tweets

Have a question about the ancient world? Just Ask!

Artist/Historian George S. Stuart completes legionary for New York collector!

In addition to creating figures for museum exhibition, artist historian George S. Stuart also produces commissioned figures for serious collectors. One of his collectors requested this figure of a Roman legionary.
Gaius Marius is recognized for totally restructuring the Roman Army and introducing new training regimens. He changed the army from a voluntary militia to a professional force, allowing men from all classes of Roman society to join and make a career of military service.
See a full length view of this amazingly detailed figure at the Gallery of Historical Figures!